I believe I have mentioned before that I took a class on church history in college. For one assignment, I was asked to summarize the history of the church in a rather brief essay. For my submission, I received a remarkably low grade compared to what I normally earned in my papers. Why? My professor, a stout evangelical, did not like that I included some of the church’s embarrassing acts, such as the Crusades and the Inquisition. I had attacked the church… by merely including details that were omitted in the course textbook.

The church is far from perfect. It has never been perfect. Like every individual being, it has fallen short of God’s grace. Being set apart does not negate this fact. David sinned. Jeremiah sinned. I have certainly sinned. And so has the church. History requires honesty—whether we like the truth or not. The church has done many great things in the past two millennia. But it has also committed horrendous acts. Israel, likewise, is a great nation. However, it is far from perfect. And in Amos, we find that, like the church, Israel has committed horrible deeds.

My last post differs from everything I have posted on Living by the Logos. I did not address the problem of suffering. I addressed the “problem,” if you will, of being set apart. I (briefly) addressed the prophet Jeremiah’s calling and mentioned not one word about suffering. This was intentional. I composed the previous post the way I did to set the stage for this post. Without a doubt, God calls people and sets certain people apart. But it is not always honorable, as we will see with Amos and the nation of Israel.

Do two walk together
    unless they have agreed to do so?
Does a lion roar in the thicket
    when it has no prey?
Does it growl in its den
    when it has caught nothing?
Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground
    when no bait is there?
Does a trap spring up from the ground
    if it has not caught anything?
When a trumpet sounds in a city,
    do not the people tremble?
When disaster comes to a city,
    has not the Lord caused it? Amos 3:3-6

The simple answer to each of these questions is “no.” Shalom M. Paul believes the questions are incorporated to display “the irresistible nature of cause and effect.”¹ I personally believe the last question is designed in such a way to demonstrate that even disasters are the result of God’s will. To paraphrase, if a city suffers, has not God set it apart to do so? Has not God set Israel apart to suffer because of its misdeeds?

As I discussed in earlier entries to the project, particularly concerning the oracles against the nations, Amos upholds the prophetic view of suffering. This prophetic view simply holds that God inflicts suffering upon those who are disobedient to him. If God punishes, then the punishment due to a particular people is inevitably God’s will. I doubt any believer wants to agree with me on this. We do not want to believe that harm, whether deserved or not, is something that God causes to fulfill his purpose. But, in the book of Amos and other prophets, it is indubitably God’s will to make people suffer.

“Can two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (3:3). A few years ago, when I was in rehab for alcoholism, I did a quick reading of Amos. This is one of the verses that I highlighted. A simple question, yet something of the wording really struck a chord with me. In that moment, I was being punished. I had sinned. Waking up one morning after a night of heavy drinking to find myself naked on the floor, covered in cuts and bruises, and having to admit that I, indeed, had a problem. In that moment, I experienced a degree of suffering I had never known. I had no choice but to continue my rampage of drinking or humbly admit that I needed help. Lots of it.

Can I walk with God unless he and I have agreed to do so? Laid up in that clinic, I knew that I was trying to walk with God, and yet I had not agreed to. There was no mutual consensus. I wanted to walk with God my way, not his. And what was the result? I suffered. It was a tremendous struggle to overcome my addiction to alcohol. But I could not have recovered without that suffering. It was, I believe, God’s will to make me suffer so that I would correct my mistakes.

And for Amos, the nation of Israel had sinned. They took advantage of the poor, they desecrated the temple, and neglected the faithfulness God had shown them. And when judgment day came, they did not receive a happy Pureflix resolve. God did not simply bless them, leading them to realize what they had done. He, through Amos, announces that he will smite the nation and, as a result, humble them. And thus, God’s will is to crush them, “as a cart crushes when loaded with grain” (2:13 NIV). The nation’s pain and misery is God’s will. As a result of their sins, this is what they are set apart for.

Jeremiah was called. He was set apart to do great things for Yahweh. And so was Israel. But Israel was also set apart to suffer because they violated their divine laws. The church may be set apart. Indeed, when it was instituted in the New Testament, it was certainly set apart. It faltered in the Crusades. It faltered in the Inquisition. And it most certainly has faltered in the modern world, for a list of reasons I cannot even begin. It is not a holy place. It has no protection from God’s wrath. It is a very human institution, much like Israel in Amos’ day.

As I have discussed in this project, Israel received a greater punishment than its neighboring nations. Why? Because God set it apart. God selected Israel to accomplish his will. God gave Israel the Law, and stomped on it in Amos. He set the church apart, too. God is not going to rapture the church. If and when the end comes, the church will not escape his wrath. It will face the brunt of such fury.

1. Shalom M. Paul, “Amos 3:3-8: The Irresistible Sequence of Cause and Effect,” H AR 1 (1983) 203-20.

Amos: A quick summary. A shepherd from Judah (the Southern Kingdom) shares a vision he receives from God regarding the imminent destruction of Israel and its surrounding areas. The book, likely composed by disciples of Amos, recounts Amos’ oral delivery of his vision. Although there is a sense of tranquility in the divided kingdom, Amos predicts this will be short-lived due to the sins of the Israelites and their departure from God. God’s response? Destroy.

Let’s take a moment to consider the historical setting of this prophetic writing. Here, I am not concerned with dating the actual writing of the book, but when Amos received the vision as according to the introductory verse. The vision of Amos is set during the reigns of Uzziah (767-740 BC) in Judah and Jeroboam II (782-853 BC) in Israel between 767-753 BC (Amos 1:1). This time was “relatively calm,” for the divided kingdom era at least.¹ We are also told that this vision occurred to Amos “two years before the earthquake” (1:1, New International Version, Zondervan, 2011). Scholar James Luther Mays, in his 1969 commentary on Amos, notes that excavations at the site of Hazor reveal a major earthquake occurred during this timeframe, though contemporary scholars debate when, exactly, the quake happened.²

Additionally, we are given a few details about the prophet Amos: he is a shepherd from the city of Tekoa. One need not devote much research, just a simple reading of the book, to understand the writer(s) of Amos possessed great intellect. We would not expect this writing to be the product of a simple shepherd. On that note, we must bear in mind that the early prophets were not writers; they were orators, whose messages were penned later by another hand.³ The writers of the Bible worked under different circumstances than modern writers, or even writers of the past millennia. They did not have the internet; they did not have popular magazines or articles, or even easily accessible books! We cannot think that Amos woke up from a dream and decided to jot down everything that happened. The record that we have was likely composed long after Amos had and shared his vision. Keep in mind that a community accepted the words and visions of these prophets; otherwise, why would they be in the Bible? Someone had to give their approval! (For this reason, scholars identify the communities of specific biblical authors. For example, we hold that the Johannine community produced the Gospel of John that appears in our Bibles today. We have zero authentic, original copies!)

The book of Amos serves as a warning for the divided kingdom, that the seemingly placid times will soon come to an end. Why? In a nutshell, because God is angry. Space does not permit a full discussion on whether God’s wrath is justifiable; what I am concerned with here is the depiction of Yahweh in this prophetic book. Bart D. Ehrman, a profound biblical scholar who became an agnostic while studying the biblical responses to the problem of suffering, identifies a particular passage that speaks to God’s anger in the Old Testament.⁴ The “Angry God” in the Old Testament is often swept under the rug by the church. Ehrman is not the first person to question his character; we are often told, “Oh! But you have to examine God’s attitude in light of the New Covenant. He was mad, but eventually he would send his son to die and save the world.” Or, as I have often seen, “How dare you question the character of God, you blasphemous peon!” Amos, however, does not hold back from displaying the true moral character of Yahweh. Read the following passage and decide what you think:

“I sent plagues among you

    as I did to Egypt.

I killed your young men with the sword,

    along with your captured horses.

I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,

    yet you have not returned to me,”

declares the Lord.” (Amos 4:10, New International Version)

Wow! Is this a loving god? You have sinned, so therefore I sent plagues and murdered your young men! Is this the God of forgiveness? When Donald Trump was president of the United States (a dark time for America and the rest of the world), children of immigrants crossing the border illegally were separated from their parents and thrown into detention camps. I may have been a simple grocery store clerk at the time, and he may have been a world leader, but that does not mean I did not question his actions or morality. Like his followers, you could argue that because he had authority, we dare not question his actions. But I and countless others have. Why? Because it is immoral! All humans have a moral compass, if you will. I do not believe this is evidence of a perfect creator, but the simple fact that we have knowledge and discernment of right from wrong. Whether this gift is God-given or not, we reserve the right, as intelligible beings, to question his intentions.

An omnibenevolent deity starving people, plaguing others, and murdering the weak? I don’t know about you, but I see a contradiction here. And it’s hard to make sense of this when the biggest religion in the world tells us such a being has the right to violate the commands He has given us because he is God. Trump separating children from their parents simply because he is president does not excuse his actions. Likewise, God (remember! “The all-loving God” you hear of in the sanctuary) killing because he is God should not excuse his actions. Maybe, in some inexplicable way, it does, but does that mean we cannot question it? It is in His Word! Through revelation, he has made his character known; are we wrong to question it? If so, what is the basis for this feat?

Amos and the other prophets make it clear as daylight: the source of suffering is God. Why? Because the nation has sinned. Because the nation has sinned, young men were killed. Was it their fault that Israel turned away from God? How many of these young men deserved the sword? Weren’t there at least a few who saw, or even experienced, the injustice dealt by the nation? We are not told; but these are questions worth asking. To what extremes does a nation have to sin so that the innocent are afflicted by God? Because a child’s parents violated international law, they have to suffer? Surely, there are other ways for justice to “well up like water” (Complete Jewish Bible, Hendrickson Publishers, 2016). But according to the Bible, the righteous must suffer for God’s will to come into fruition.

Amos is a short book, containing only nine chapters, but there is a wealth of information to unpack within it. This is the first entry in what I am calling “The Amos Project.” As I study this book, the problem of suffering guides my methods. We are looking particularly at Biblical Truth #2 in this project: God is omnibenevolent. Is he? Is this consistent with the biblical record, specifically the words of Amos of Tekoa? I hope that this introduction has sparked some kind of interest in the prophetic depiction of God. It is my hope that, like me, you have questions for the Bible. What are we to make of an omnibenevolent yet murderous God? Please join me as we dig deeper into the text in hopes of resolving these necessary questions.  

I feel it is necessary to include a note here on my intentions with this project, as well as the mission of Living by the Logos. I am not out to disprove God. I am not trying to make you hate God. These discussions are not intended to lead you away from the faith you may possess, but to encourage you to think deeply about the convictions you hold. Are you looking at the full picture of the Bible, or just accepting what the church tells you it says? The church has no authority to tell you what to believe, and neither do I. I plead with you to ask questions, especially those that the church fails to or does not answer, and examine the text with those questions in mind. The God of Amos and the prophets is the God of the Bible and you should be aware of who he is. For the record, I completely believe in God’s existence! One cannot convince me otherwise. But I do not hold to the traditional beliefs of the church or Christianity. Why? Because things like the God of Amos are over- or under- looked. And certain problems, especially the problem of suffering, deserve our keen attention. And the church fails to respond to this problem. The purpose of Living by the Logos is not about winning an argument or providing logical, intellectual answers. It’s about examining the text we are told is “inerrant” and “perfect,” and seeking a practical solution from it rather than a logical answer.

1. Chisholm, Robert B. Handbook on the Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Minor Prophets. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 377.

2. Mays, James Luther. Amos: A Commentary, in The Old Testament Library. Edited by G. Ernest Wright, John Bright, James Barr, and Peter Ackroyd (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminister Press, 1969), 20.

3. Thomas L. Lecerc, Introduction to the Prophets: Their Stories, Sayings, and Scrolls; Second Edition, Paulist Press, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, 33.

4. See Bart D. Ehrman, God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question – Why We Suffer, (New York: Harper Collins, 2009).